I am a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Göttingen working in Michael Waldmann’s Lab of Cognitive and Decision Sciences. I’m interested in human causal learning and reasoning. Given that causal relationships are neither directly observable nor logically deducible, how do reasoners manage to learn about causes and effect so successfully? How do they use this knowledge to make predictions, diagnoses, or to explain things?
On this website I share information about my academic life. You’ll find things like an up-to-date CV, my publication list, and information about recent/ upcoming presentations (e.g., conference talks).
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (forthcoming). The interplay between covariation, temporal, and mechanism information in singular causation judgments. In A. Wiegmann, & P. Willemsen (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Causation. London, UK: Bloomsbury Press.
Stephan, S., Tentori, K., Pighin, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (in press). Interpolating causal mechanisms: The paradox of knowing more. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Gerstenberg, T., & Stephan, S. (in revision). A counterfactual simulation model of causation by omission.
Skovgaard-Olsen, N., Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (under review). Conditionals and the hierarchy of causal queries.
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (2020). Causal scope and causal strength: The number of potential effects of a cause influences causal strength estimates. In S. Denison., M. Mack, Y. Xu, & B.C. Armstrong (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3426 - 3432). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (2020). On causal claims, contingencies, and inference: How causal terminology affects what we think about the strength of causal links. In S. Denison., M. Mack, Y. Xu, & B.C. Armstrong (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3419 - 3425). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Stephan, S., Mayrhofer, R., & Waldmann, M. R. (2020). Time and singular causation - a computational model. Cognitive Science, 44, e12871.
Stephan, S., Mayrhofer, R., & Waldmann, M. R. (2018). Assessing singular causation: The role of causal latencies. In T.T. Rogers, M. Rau, X. Zhu, & C. W. Kalish (Eds.), Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1080 - 1085). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (2018). Preemption in singular causation judgments: A computational model. Topics in Cognitive Science, 10, 242–257.
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (2017). Preemption in singular causation judgments: A computational model. In G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, & E. Davelaar (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1126-1131). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. (Computational Modeling: Higher Level Cognition Award of the Cognitive Science Society).
Stephan, S., Willemsen, P. & Gerstenberg, T. (2017). Marbles in inaction: Counterfactual simulation and causation by omission. In G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, & E. Davelaar (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1132-1137). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Nagel, J., & Stephan, S. (2016). Explanations in causal chains: Selecting distal causes requires exportable mechanisms. In A. Papafragou, D. Grodner, D. Mirman, & J.C. Trueswell (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 806-811). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Stephan, S., & Waldmann, M. R. (2016). Answering causal queries about singular cases. In A. Papafragou, D. Grodner, D. Mirman, & J.C. Trueswell (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2795-2801). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Nagel, J., & Stephan, S.. (2015). Mediators or alternative explanations: Transitivity in human-mediated causal chains. In D. C. Noelle, R. Dale, A. S. Warlaumont, J. Yoshimi, T. Matlock, C. D. Jennings, & P. P. Maglio (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1691-1696). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
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